Berlin Festival House reopened

Drees & Sommer successfully managed partial renovation and upgrade of this heritage-protected building

Work started in 2009 to convert the former theater into a multipurpose Festival House. The project was undertaken in four phases, with the Festival House available for festival events between each phase. This demanding project has now been completed on time and within budget.

Drees & Sommer was commissioned by Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH to undertake partial renovation and upgrade of the Haus der Berliner Festspiele (Berlin Festival House). The project was financed by the federal government's 2nd Economic Stimulus Package. Since 2001, the Berlin Festival has been located in the building originally opened in 1963 as the Theater der Freien Volksbühne. The project involved converting the 10,000 square meter heritage-protected complex into a multipurpose Festival House. This required renovation and upgrade of stage equipment and building services equipment and remodeling of the auditorium, box office and foyer. The aim was to increase the profitability of the building, for example, by making all the adjacent areas of architect Fritz Bornemann's original design available for events and performances. Further key aspects were to provide disabled access throughout the building and to adapt safety features such as escape routes and fire prevention measures to the new uses. 

"The special challenge was the short timeframe of just under 20 months for completion of this work. Plus the fact that the building had to operational for three separate seasons during this period," said project leader Gisbert Kollenda of Drees & Sommer Berlin. "Despite the enormous time pressure, we not only managed to complete the project on time, but also within the estimated construction cost. This was only possible as the result of collaboration between the principal and users, the planners, authorities and companies involved as well as the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning," said Gisbert Kollenda.

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